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North Korean Defector Is Trump’s Surprise SOTU Guest

Updated 01.31.18 8:21AM ET / Published 01.30.18 11:17PM ET

Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

President Trump welcomed a North Korean defector as his surprise guest at the State of the Union address Tuesday night, recounting in vivid detail the torture Ji Seong-ho said he endured before escaping the country as a child. Describing Ji as a “witness to the ominous nature” of the North Korean regime, Trump told of how Ji lost his leg while on a desperate search for food 20 years ago. He then “endured multiple amputations without anything to dull the pain” and “traveled thousands of miles on crutches, all across China and Southeast Asia, to freedom,” Trump said, as Ji looked on from the audience. He had finally resolved “to be free,” Trump said, after being tortured by North Korean authorities who “wanted to know if he’d met any Christians” while traveling. Ji, who now lives in Seoul helping other defectors, held up his old crutches for the audience as Trump praised his “great sacrifice” for freedom.